Gertrude accepts submissions from new and established writers and artists. Subject matter need not be LGBTQ-specific and we welcome writers and artists from all backgrounds. We do not accept previously published work.

Please note that we do not publish novels. We read chapbook manuscripts ONLY through our annual competition.

The journal is on-line only. We accept fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and all forms of art for the journal. Please contact EditorGertrudePress@gmail.com for book review and interview pitches.

Submit work double-spaced in 12-point font. Because we are an on-line journal, we lean toward shorter material - and are open to pieces up to 3,000 words. Please include a word count in your cover letter.

We like dark work as well as work that makes us laugh; experimental forms and traditional narratives. It just has to be AMAZING, especially considering that less than 3% of what is submitted is accepted. As long as the genre is also literary, we are open to sc-fi, mystery, crime, or other categories. In general, though, we don't like to read work that involves violence toward children or animals or rape scenes.

We do not accept previously published work. For more info on what we are looking for, read our DUOTROPE interview here.

Submit up to five poems of any subject matter. There is no line limit; however, poems less than 40 lines are preferable since we are now an on-line journal. Please read our back issues to get familiar with our tastes.

Subject matter need not be LGBTQA-specific; we welcome writers from all backgrounds. We accept simultaneous submissions because life is too short.

Gertrude showcases one visual artist on the cover of each annual chapbook. We will also be featuring art as galleries on our website. Please upload images or include links to website URLs in your submissions.

Work need not be LGBTQ in nature. We appreciate a full range of art, from installations to cartoons to video to multi-media and traditional 2D and look forward to seeing your work!

Each year Gertrude
Press publishes our winning chapbooks, each judged by prestigious writers. These beautiful,
perfect bound books include a unique cover in a limited press run. The winners
of our annual contest will also receive $200 and 25 copies.

This year's judge is Robert Hill, the author of the novels WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE (Greywolf Press 2007), which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award’s Ken Kesey Award for Fiction, and THE REMNANTS (Forest Avenue Press 2016), which was named one of Powell’s Books’ “Top 5 Novels of 2016.” Robert has received a Walt Morey Fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts, and has been a Teaching Fellow at the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference, as well as a Judge for the Breadloaf Fiction Prize.

Thank you for submitting!

Guidelines:

* Submit 8500-10000 words of fiction.

* Submissions must be in 12pt font and double-spaced.

* Indicate which selections (if there are separate pieces) have been previously published and by whom. Unpublished pieces are welcome.

* Fiction may be of any subject matter and writers from all backgrounds are encouraged to submit.

* Contest is blind judged. Please DO NOT include any identifying information on your manuscript.

Each year Gertrude
Press publishes our winning chapbooks, each judged by prestigious writers. These beautiful,
perfect bound books include a unique cover in a limited press run. The winners
of our annual contest will also receive $200 and 25 copies.

This year's CNF judge is Kate Carroll de Gutes, whosebook OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR won the 2016 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and a 2016 Lambda Literary Award in Memoir. Her second book, THE AUTHENTICITY EXPERIMENT: LESSONS FROM THE BEST & WORST YEAR OF MY LIFE, will be released from Two Sylvias Press in September 2017.